Southampton Kendo Club Member of The British Kendo Association
Home The Club Practice Times Beginners Calendar News Information Sensei History of Kendo Facebook Links Contact	The Club History Southampton Kendo Club was officially founded in October 2007 by Phil McLaughlin (5th Dan), Jarrett Lawley (2nd Dan) and Daniel Rowan (Ikkyu) from the ashes of the Southampton University Club. Our inaugural training session taking place on the 2nd October 2007 with a visit from Malcolm Goodwin Sensei. The club initially trained at the Millbrook school. Last year we moved to our current home at Redbridge Community School. This year we added a second training session at the Hamble Sports Complex. The club has had a number of visits from high ranking instructors including Matsumoto Sensei (7th Dan) former GB Team coach and Terry Holt Sensei (7th Dan) Aims The club aims to provide a hard training and friend environment to practice Kendo. The philosophy of the dojo comes down to us from Phil McLaughlin's late teacher Mr E.J. Shaw and is summed up in the name he gave to his dojo Kagami Shin The club is run on a not for profit basis with no instructors taking any fees from the club. National Association Southampton Kendo Club is a member of The British Kendo Association (BKA) which is our national governing body. They provide gradings, instructor training and insurance for all affiliated clubs. All club instructors are fully qulified and insured through the BKA Sensei (Dojo Leader) The club is lead by Phil McLaughlin (5th Dan) who has more than 25 years of kendo experience and is a regional coach for the south central region of the BKA. Assistant Instructors Phil is assisted by Jarrett Lawley (2nd Dan) who has been practising kendo for 7 years and has a number of years of coaching experience. Jarrett has a Level 1 BKA coaching award. The Members The club has a diverse membership with a wide range of ages, occupations, social backgrounds and outside interests. We have a number of social events and attend seminars, gradings and competitions throughout the year. Who is Kendo suitable for? Kendo may be safely practised by men and women of all ages. Currently we are only able to take students over 18.
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